The maintenance of African ancestrality and the matriarchal culture in Conceição Evaristo’s fiction

Abstract

The present work focuses on the literary construction of Conceição Evaristo through the perspective of the matriarchal culture of the Afrocentric communities, based on the analysis of short stories from the book Histórias de leve enganos e parecenças (2017). To this end, we aim to reflect on the importance of the role of women and the relationship with orality, which stand out in the tales of Afro-centric ancestral tradition. In the analysis, the epistemological bases count on theorists such as Stuart Hall (2003), Paul Zumthor (1993), Lélia González (2020), Cheikh Anta Diop (1974), among other researchers of the Afro-Brazilian and culturalist theme. The methodological procedure consists of qualitative analyses of the narratives of the collection Histórias de Leves Enganos e parecenças, with ways to identify traits that mark the maintenance of matrilineality in the fiction of Evaristo. Here, we build the hypothesis that the discussion on the theme promotes the fight against racism while at the same time increasing the visibility and promotion of gender and cultural equality. In this context, the contributions of the research point to the positive aspect of (re)construction and strengthening of the Afro-feminine culture regarding diversity, whether from the aesthetic-literary or cultural and social point of view.